I tallied up my flight count in my head. It wasn’t as demanding as “Anna Air” was back in Alaska. I no longer loaded and unloaded cargo all day. The plane I flew was only three years old, the seats were still soft leather and the vents didn’t rattle. My apartment was brand new, not a fifty year old house, complete with an indoor swimming pool, workout gym, and social events for singles on Friday nights. I bought a new car, too. She was small and cherry red. Nothing too wild, but she was all mine. I had several thousand in savings, and if this job worked out, I planned on flying to Europe the first vacation I could take. I wanted to go to France, see Paris and the Eiffel Tower and eat a croissant that melted on my tongue like flakes of butter.
I smiled at my own whimsy. I missed Jack. And when the other singles milled about down by the park, I surfed the travel websites and made my plans. It was the only way I could push down the ache in my heart caused by missing him.
After one last check of the command console, I stood in my crisp white shirt and pleated pants, hair pinned back behind my airline cap as I stared straight ahead in preparation, ready to greet my passengers.
As the first passenger came into view, I felt my heart as it thumped in my chest. The woman was tall, slender, with platinum white hair and a classic beauty about her. She smiled widely as she saw me, handed her bag to the ground crew, and reached over to hug me.
“Anna, my darling, you look just amazing!” she cooed as she pulled back to take me all in.
“M-Mrs. Simms, what are you doing here?” I finally managed to stutter out, jarred by the presence of Jack’s mother. I had only met her one other time, in Anchorage when she assigned me Jack’s delivery, but she was unmistakable. She had Jack’s Grecian features and his no-bullshit stare.
I knew I was being rude, especially as her pilot, but my brain couldn’t connect the dots. “Are you flying with us today?” I asked dumbly and immediately wanted to hit myself over the head.
“Oh, darling, did Jack not tell you? We’re headed to Vancouver Island to check up on one of his father’s investments. I assumed you knew when we had booked your airline! Silly Jack,” she whispered conspiratorially as she winked at me. Mrs. Simms walked to her seat ten feet away and sat down, clearly smug and satisfied with herself.
Just then, I heard heavier steps on the plank way just outside of view. Shit. I just knew it was Jack. I was tempted to hide in the cockpit before he boarded, and it was only my pain-in-the-ass copilot blocking the way that stopped me. I took a deep breath and gritted my teeth. I also smoothed my hair and the front of my blouse.
My heartbeat sped to an alarming rate as Jack’s shadow breached the hull of the plane and then he stepped into my line of sight. He was even more handsome now, in a beautifully cut suit with a briefcase in his masculine, rough hands. His hair had been trimmed but there was still an unmistakable, boyish wave. His brown eyes grazed up my body, then met mine.
We both stilled entirely; my face registered shock as his morphed into smug pleasure.
Jack took a step closer to me. In the small hull of the aircraft, he towered over me and blocked the aisle behind him.
“Hello, princess. Fancy seeing you here,” he drawled, and his smile broke free.
His megawatt smile hit me like a ton of bricks and I couldn’t help it; I smiled back. His brown eyes dropped to my smile, my lips, and then lower, to my breasts that had stood at attention the second he came through the door. Jack’s eyebrows quirked up in appreciation.
I rolled my eyes but before I could slap him, Jack took both my hands in his and brought them gently to his lips. “Anna, you look… amazing. Bush pilot looked good on you, but this…” he dropped off and gestured at the full length of me, appreciating my fitted shirt, slacks, and made-up face. I blushed and dipped my head down for a moment before the steel returned to my spine, and I asked, “What are you doing here?”
The copilot called to me and I was the first to glance away.
“Thanks for coming aboard, Mr. Simms. If you’ll take your seat, we can take off soon.”
I turned numbly towards the cockpit, unsure of my ability to fly a plane while dazed and Jack-drunk.
But Jack wouldn’t have it; his hands found my shoulders and he turned me to face him once again. “Anna, I didn’t come here to fly with you. I came here to see you. To tell you that I miss you, and that I’m back in Seattle,” he said, and he looked down at me with such intense emotion that my own eyes misted.
“What? I—” I started, but he cut me off.
“Just let me say this and then you can kick me off your plane,” he pleaded. He took my lack of response as permission and continued, “The day you left the cabin, I wanted to come after you. I should have come after you. But I assumed you’d come back. And you didn’t.” Here, I tried to interject but again, he silenced me. “Shh, princess, let me finish. I assumed you’d come back, but I was wrong. I assumed that you’d stay for me, but that was idiotic of me. I was selfish and thought that you’d change your whole life for me if we wanted things to work out. I didn’t give you enough credit,” he finished with a huge, heart-stopping grin, an apology etched all over his face.